BERLIN, 21 September 2004 — An Islamic conference organized by a group calling for resistance to the US-led occupation of Iraq was yesterday banned from taking place in Berlin by the regional authorities. The city’s regional minister of the interior Ehrhart Koerting said the aims of the conference stated by the organizers overstepped the line of what was permissible in Germany. The website of the “first Arab Islamic Congress in Europe”, planned to take place on Oct. 1-3, carries the title “No to US occupation of Iraq, no to Zionist occupation of Palestine”. Under the sub-heading “Stand up and perform resistance,” the organizers call for the “liberation of all the occupied territories and countries in struggle against the American-Zionist hegemony and occupation”.
A Lebanese citizen who is one of the organizers was deported from Germany on Saturday following an investigation into his membership of ‘questionable organizations’. The man, Fadi Madi, said on arriving in Beirut that the United States had put immense pressure on Germany to prevent the conference taking place. “The high command of US forces in Europe put pressure on Berlin to attempt to have the conference cancelled,” he said.
“We are accused of supporting the struggle of the Palestinian and Iraqi people against the Israeli and American occupation. They equate resistance with terrorism.” German Interior Minister Otto Schily had said he would do everything possible to prevent the conference taking place.
